Trials and Traitors
by t3h maniac
Summary: FFVI, After the incident at the Magitek research facility, Celes finds herself on the run with no-one to rely on but herself and an entire army against her. But is everyone really out to get her? R
1. It begins

**Trials and Traitors**

**ZOMG. A non-humorous piece of fiction from me? What is the world coming to?**

**After the Magitek facility incident, Celes found herself on the run from the imperial army. But is everyone in Vector against her?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VI, its characters or locations.**

**---**

"STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Kefka bellowed, it was supposed to be his crowning achievement. He would take out the traitor, the heirs of Figaro and that piece of Returner scum in one fell swoop. He had come so close, but Celes decided to defy the empire, all that she used to stand for, once more.

"_**TELEJA!**_" She cast, the two magitek armour prototypes, formally used on Terra's unit were whisked away in a flash of light, the imperial court mage could feel himself being sucked up by some portal in the sky, he scrapped the floor for something to hold on to, to anchor him down but it was no use. His life flashed before his eyes, Celes was standing there, a magical aura surrounding her, not unlike the espers had before containment and draining.

It was if she was letting the powers she contained just run rampant through her body. The way she rose up towards the ceiling, her blonde hair giving a s fan effect, her normally cold blue eyes filled with rage she just wanted to remove Kefka from existence, and she nearly achieved that.

---

Kefka found himself sprawled out in the Iron Palace. He wasn't quite sure what had just transpired but he knew who to blame.

"Celes…" he growled, looking to see if she had been warped here with him. The two people in the magitek armour unit were there with him, out cold, the armour units themselves were in a heap near by but no general Celes. "Bloody witch!" He shouted, hopping up and down on the spot, like how a child would throw a tantrum.

He then realised that 3 people in the research facility were not effected by her spell. The Returners. He had to act quickly, if he was two slow they might be able to flee if they gained hold of the mine carts. He ordered a unit to follow him back to the facility in hopes at heading them off at the pass but he was too slow, they had already left. They seemed to have used professor Cid as a hostage to aid their escape but left him near the exit so that the old coot wouldn't slow them down. "Son of a… Sub…Sand… Whatever."

He headed back towards the throne room, they had to leave Vector somehow, the Southern continent wasn't the easiest to escape from unless they had an airship, and the only non-imperial person who had one was Setzer. And he wouldn't help a bunch of rebels would he?

---

Emperor Gestahl was quickly facing a new scenario, one that he had not foreseen. While it was true that the attack on Narshe was surprisingly unsuccessful he would not have anticipated a Returner counter-strike on Empire soil. An attempt to liberate South-Figaro would have been more likely but there was one silver lining to all of this.

"So you are telling me professor that, although the Esper draining process allows us to infuse our own Elite with magic that there is a more efficient way to go about, one that produces even more power?" He asked the nervous man in the yellow lab coat.

"Yes sir. It appears when an Esper dies that their true power is condensed to crystals. These crystals are termed as 'Magicite'." He said, he wished he didn't have to do this anymore, what happened to Kefka made him stay on, he was determined to make the infusion process safer and he even started to think as Celes, the youngest and the only female to receive the new and refined treatment as his granddaughter. Her mind didn't deteriorate like Kefka's and here Runic knight abilities seemed to stop any magical backlash in her career as a soldier. But now that she had deserted the empire, and raided the labs she was brought up in. It made him start to question just whether he should be doing this. Hurting other species for human's own personal gain.

"So, Magicite, do we still have enough espers to test this theorem?" the emperor pondered.

"No, Lord Gestahl."

"Very well, dismissed. And tell Kefka and Leo that I am ready to see them now." Cid quickly left the throne room, not turning his back to Gestahl in the fear that he may set fire to it. Kefka and Leo entered the room. The one remaining General and now effective commander of the entire army, Leo, had been brought up on nobility and honour. Kefka was completely insane and had an unquenchable blood-lust. It was a clear case of two opposite sides of the spectrum.

Neither of them spoke, it was a decidedly bad day for both of them. Kefka's plans to take out some of the key players in the Returners had failed miserably and Leo's security forces had been compromised and all Espers had been lost as Magicite to the resistance group. Leo simply hung his head in shame while Kefka cursed under his breath.

"So it appears the tables have turned slightly against us." Gestahl said in a low voice.

"My apologies your Excellency." Leo said.

"It was that accursed girl! Where is she now?" Kefka asked both of them.

"Kefka… it appears that the former general Celes Chere has escaped from Vector. Most likely by the same spell that sent you and your men into the palace from the facility." Gestahl replied, Kefka remained un-phased and eager to kill.

"Let me have her! I'll make sure the wench will wish she was never born! Uwe-he-he!"

"No."

"But…"

"No. That sudden surge of power at the research facility was driven by rage towards you. Next time, she may decide to kill you in another fury. Added to the fact that your magic is useless against her one-on-one and we arrive in a situation where you cannot be sent on this mission." Gestahl explained, Kefka sunk back silently, arms folded.

"Your Excellency. I can have security drastically improved. If that is your wish." Leo said respectfully, another contrast to Kefka.

"No, the damage has been done to that facility. The only thin that needs to be restored is the magitek armour production lines. I have a different mission for you Leo."

"Yes your Excellency?"

"You are to find Celes Chere. And…"

"Cut off her head!" Kefka interrupted with a maniac grin on his face.

"No Kefka. There is much untapped potential in her, Leo. I want you to find Celes, bring her back to Vector. And place the slave crown on her."

"What?" Leo almost shouted.

"She is too powerful to waste, and too treacherous to let her have her own free will."

"But remember what happened to Major Terra? After you gave her to Kefka because she started questioning orders, he ordered her to wipe out 50 of our magitek knights in three minutes? Why would you let there be the chance of our own blood to be shed again?"

"I will not be giving control of her to Kefka, nor will I be controlling her personally. You will, general."

"What?"

"WHAT?!" Kefka shouted, Gestahl sighed, sometimes that man was more of a nuisance than bloodthirsty.

"I made myself clear. Leo, you will track her down, apprehend her and administer the slave crown. She will then be under your direct command. You are dismissed General, but not you Kefka." The emperor concluded signalling for Leo to leave which he did so, his head spinning. He saw what happened to Terra Branford, devoid of all will, it was damn near terrifying the way she obeyed every order without question, without even recognition that she had received the order. She just carried them out like a human puppet. How could he do the same to a woman that had worked side by side with him on numerous occasions?

---

In the shadows of the slums a blonde haired woman hid from an oncoming patrol. It was strange, her initial thoughts were that she'd prefer to return to the heart of the empire, if only on her own terms. But now the iron palace and polluted streets held nothing but despair for her. The returners had escaped with Setzer's help so she did not have any reason to remain here. Sensing her opportunity she slipped out of the town un-noticed and headed for Tzen port. The Southern continent was a dangerous place for her now.

---

**There, my first exclusivley FFVI multi-chapter fic is underway, to celebrate me actually getting the game a few mere days ago. Oh, by the way, reviews are appreciated.**


	2. The hunt

**Chapter 2**

**The Hunt**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FFVI, its characters, locations or clichés.**

**---**

"**THANK YOU FOR DEPLOYING THE GUARDIAN MARK II" **the automated vice boomed. Guardian was the empire's ace in the hole for defensive purposes. Although it could not move in any way shape or form, the amount of firepower that it held was awe-inspiring. It required the powers from a drained Esper just to operate the basic turret guns, let alone the newly installed atom ray which could incinerate targets in a matter of nanoseconds. Leo always thought that deploying it anywhere could be considered over-kill but with Kefka following a different set of orders to Leo, dividing their forces and leaving Vector practically defenceless, it was necessary.

"Hey Leo, wanna trade orders? Yours sound much more fun than mine. You get to hunt her down like the dog she is! Uwe-he-he!" Kefka cackled sinisterly,

"For the last time Kefka, Gestahl made it quite clear as to why you shouldn't be on this mission."

"But you get damn near the entire army at your disposal! What do I get? And I quote: 'A small bodyguard party'. I'm gonna be flanked by bloody midgets! How are they supposed to protect me huh? They can't make decent human shields, they're more like human bucklers…"

"Kefka, that is not the definition of what you are charged with commanding. The Emperor means is a small number of elite troops. And no I would not like to switch orders even if I could."

"Meany."

"Kefka…" Leo's sword arm itched to grab the hilt of his blade and possibly Skewer Kefka, he could not see what Gestahl saw in him. Sure he'd been loyal to the empire before he went insane but sometimes there was just no hope for the man. If you could still call him that.

"Anyway, hope you don't have too much fun General. But make sure she has to be tortured before you can put on that little crown. Uwe-he-he!" Kefka then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"General Leo! Sir!" Shouted one of the young soldiers, his helmet completely concealing his or her face "Permission to give report sir!"

"Permission granted private." Leo responded.

"Albrook port has been successfully cut off from the rest of town, only military personal can now access the port with a specific password."

"What's the password?"

"I…I don't know sir, I've forgotten"

Leo sighed, at least if the messenger didn't know the password, the weakest link in the chain had been eliminated and Celes would have to resort to interrogating a soldier, and that took time, not to mention one less person on the roll call was something you noted in this job. "Very well, dismissed." The General decided to search the forests surrounding Vector. The monsters within the area were simple enough to deal with if you had magic, which Celes had, both from the infusion and the Magicite.

"What's with the general?" Whispered the messenger to another low-ranking soldier.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, usually when I forget important things, he yells at me a bit. Sometimes he just smacks his own forehead, but he never used to give an exasperated sigh whenever I did something stupid."

"How long have you been in the army?"

"About a year, I keep on getting lined up for promotions then something bad happens. I'm never going to get promoted to Lance Corporal at this rate…" The first soldier said, hanging his head in shame.

"Do you remember what happened to that sorceress?"

"Pyro or Ice queen?"

"Pyro, Ice queen's the one we're supposed to be capturing."

"Oh yeah, she used to be the Major in charge of my Platoon when I first joined."

"Really?"

"Yeah, surprised she didn't climb the ranks as fast as Ice Queen did."

"I don't know either, but the point is you remember when she was given to Kefka after that nasty business in Tzen?"

"Yeah… wiped out 50 of our best with magic in under 3 minutes. Glad I dodged that bullet. Leo went completely mental on that nut-job afterward though. Never seen him go ballistic like that. Completely destroyed his personal Magitek armour."

"Well from what I've heard, and this is only word-of-mouth sort of stuff so it may not be true…"

"Yes?"

"Well apparently she was under Leo's direct command. After Tzen, she was handed over to Kefka who put the slave crown on her."

"So why is it affecting him now?"

"Well this is just between me and you, but I think there may have been some feelings for her back then."

"Eesh. Is the General robbing the cradle there or what?" The soldier said, slightly disgusted. Terra was only 18.

"Shh… he's coming." Both soldiers peered round the corner to see Leo approaching them, almost making their uniforms spontaneously transform into latrines, he had made it clear that he did not like gossip. Especially not about him, the bit of Kefka bashing here and then was fine but he was not a fan of having people speaking behind his back.

"Okay he's gone." the first soldier said, causing the other to breath a sigh of relief. "So what was going on between General and Pyro?"

"I dunno, but with Ice queen now, it's like history's repeating itself for him. Gotta be hard on the guy."

"Yeah maybe. Hey, do you know what the password for the port is?"

"What you forgot already?"

"Well… kind of."

"Fine, its 'Callous Deceiver'." The second told the messenger shaking his head.

"Thanks, shouldn't you be getting back to your post now?"

"Oh-!" The second soldier rushed off into the darkness, leaving the person who had delivered the report to Leo alone, and chuckling slightly.

"Fool. He should have known by now never to repeat passwords to anybody except for when a designated officer's present." the soldier rushed into a nearby alleyway, checking to make sure no-one was looking the helmet was removed, allowing wavy blonde hair to fall down her back. Her mind was racing, this was almost too easy to accomplish, the lower ranks were idiots, Leo wasn't pursuing her at all as of yet, he was just trying to seal off all exits to the continent except for the Blackjack. Not that there was any chance of Celes wanting to return to the Returners so soon. She didn't particularly fancy seeing Locke or having to put up with Setzer's and Edgar's flirting.

_What does it matter anyway? The Empire knows I've betrayed them and the Returners most likely think the same. To everyone it seems, I'm a traitor._

_---_

**Dialogue heavy I know, but it was necessary to get a bit of background information. Review please, I know Favourites and alerts are good but what really sets a fic out from the rest is how many reviews it has.**


	3. Strategy

**Trials And Traitors.**

**Too many stories, to many worlds. They all scream "Update me!" But I can only do so much, the initial fast flow of updates from me has run dry but fortunately my writing skill has improved for it. Anyway, here's an update for my FFVI work.**

**Disclaimer: _Still_ not mine.**

_**---**_

Celes once more donned the helmet of a low-ranked imperial soldier and walked to Albrook port, not even flinching as the multi-ton Magitek armour units walked, no, they practically lumbered past her. Even though if her cover was blown at any moment the would turn around and open fire. She hoped if the worse came to the worse that these models were the basic, not the ones equipped with elemental beams that favoured pure destruction.

She saluted as a group of officers made their way through town, possibly towards the café where the would discuss strategy and Leo's orders. The orders to capture her. She didn't know whether it was a dead or alive term and wasn't willing to risk either way, it was best if she kept up her disguise long enough to stowaway on a ship bound for the South Figaro garrison. It would bring back bad memories for her to return there but it was better than staying on the Southern continent. Perhaps a boat to Jidoor or the Opera house would be available instead, as a safer option.

No, she couldn't just stand by and watch Kefka get away with everything, turning everyone against her, the Returners, Leo. Even her own troop. People who would have easily laid down their lives for her. How the world had turned.

There was a Templar knight guarding the entrance. His shield and spear barring access to anyone without clearance.

"Password?" He asked in a low voice.

"Callous Deceiver." Celes said, no trace of fear in her voice.

"I'm afraid Miss Chere," The Templar said readying his weapon, "that the password has been changed." He lunged directly at her, Celes quickly realised that Leo had changed the password after she had coerced it out of the low ranking Soldier. He wasn't as slow as people took him for sometimes. Hopelessly noble, but quick to sort out any weak links in his chain of command.

She parried the lunge expertly, the man staggered a bit. She muttered a small spell. A white magical banner appeared in front of his mouth, his lips moved but there was no noise, he had been silenced. Celes took the opportunity to jump into the air, he was about a foot taller than her, so she could deliver a strike to the back of the silenced Soldier's head, sending him crashing into the water. The former general cursed at her bad luck and returned to the shadows. No doubt the guard in the water would case an increase in security. Nothing that was too much of a trouble but still… it would complicate matters.

What did catch her off guard was that Leo made an appearance quickly. It was said the man had a sixth sense for trouble, Celes had underestimated him perhaps.

"What now sir?" Asked a corporal.

"She's trying to escape by sea. We can't let her leave the continent."

"Orders?" Leo pondered things for a moment it would be a risky decision either way, but this was an important mission.

"Have any ships left the harbour recently?"

"No sir. Not since the incident at Devil's Lab sir."

"Very well then, have all military personnel of the frigates, and then sink all of them." The general said coldly.

"Sir?" The corporal was stunned by this turn of events. The Magitek frigates was an important part of the imperial navy. Without them, they would be (pardon the pun) sunk.

"Leave only one of them left in the port and let the order be that if it set sails without me on board it shall be destroyed in a blaze."

"Y-yes sir!"

_Your move Celes _General Leo thought to himself, looking at the port. _I hope I didn't ruin your only plan, for your sake._

_---_

"ARE YOU BLOODY IDIOTS LISTENING TO ME AT ALL!?" Kefka bellowed, the last word causing an echo through the valley leading to the imperial outpost.

"Yes sir, Lord Kefka. But it this position has been held by the empire for over ten years. You can't expect us to just abandon it. Not when the Gate is so close." The commanding officer for the outpost tried to reason.

"That gate is the reason why I want all of you to GET OUT! No buts. If you have a problem, take it up with the emperor. Or should I just freeze your tongue to a pole to make it easier on you?"

"No problems at all. Nope, none here."

"Well I'm glad we solved this difficulty without bloodshed. Now I'm going to have to kill a returner."

"…"

"You're still here."

"Sorry Lord!" The officer squeaked before dashing out, leading his troops to find Celes. Kefka cackled manically, the old craziness had its fair share of benefits.

"Idiots. The lot of them." Kefka said as soon as the were out of earshot. He heard the distinct wokka-wokka noise indicating that the Blackjack was about to land. Time to activate operation Get Rebellious Esper aka Terra to open gate. Or G-R-E-A-T plan for short. It worked out in his mind. But then again everything did, including the raining ducks trying to attack the empirical base in Vector.

The less said about that particular infusion based hallucination the better.

---

Leo cursed. The Blackjack had re-entered empire territory. This was not good. If they were there for the gate, they were in Kefka's hands but if Celes was to rejoin, despite the rumours spread by Kefka that she had been working with the empire all along, would seriously complicate matters.

Leo hated heights.

---

**Review please.**


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